1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to foot-retaining ski bindings for feet arranged in tandem, particularly on a single water ski.
2. Prior Art
When skiing one may use a single ski and place the feet on the ski in tandem arrangement, one foot behind the other. A water ski providing for such foot placement is shown in Russell U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,328, issued May 8, 1973.
It has been found that much better control of the ski is provided if at least the front foot is firmly held to the ski. If for any reason the skier falls, frequently his rear foot comes loose from the ski and his front foot remains attached to the ski, which could cause severe injury. This situation is particularly apt to occur when the front foot is held in a forward boot attached to the ski and the rear foot is simply held by an instep strap, so that the rear foot can be pulled out of the strap when the skier falls and the front foot is still held by the boot to the ski. If the skier prefers to have both feet fitted in boots, then in a fall one foot could be pulled out of a boot to free only one foot. If the other foot remained in a boot attached to the ski, severe injury could result.
Dennis U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,007, issued Mar. 24, 1987, for Releasable Binding System for Snowboarding discloses a binding for two feet on a snowboard constructed for automatic and simultaneous release of one foot when the other foot is released from the snowboard.